Blogging the democratic revolution
Source: The Nation It’s getting bad again in Thailand. The Bangkok Post says the crisis is deepening. The opposition to billionaire Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, led by rival media tycoon Sondhi Limthongkul, is giving Thaksin till Saturday to resign or they will chase him out. About 50,000 demonstrators filled the streets Sunday, and another 25,000 filled the streets Monday. All credible analysts point to 1992-style violence, the memory of which is pretty grim. An old monk-general who led that 1992 People Power revolt against what was then Thailand’s tinpot generals, has recently resurfaced at rallies and people are starting to…
President Gloria Arroyo has announced a state of emergency in the Philippines following the thwarting of a coup plot. Somewhat ironically, today is the 20th anniversary of the original People Power revolution that overthrew dictator Ferdinand Marcos. MANILA (Reuters) – President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declared emergency rule in the Philippines on Friday after the military said it foiled a coup attempt, but analysts criticized the move as unwarranted and potentially damaging to the economy. Talk of plots against Arroyo, who survived a crisis last year over allegations of vote-rigging and corruption, has been running high around this week’s anniversary of…
Rumors flying for months about a military coup in the Philippines may just have turned out to be true, as an investigation has led to the finding of 16 officers planning to overthrow the government. MANILA (Reuters) – The Philippine army has questioned at least 14 lieutenants and sergeants linked to a plot to unseat President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, a general said on Wednesday, adding he was confident no coup attempt would ever succeed. Lieutenant-General Hermogenes Esperon, head of the army, said authorities had identified about 16 junior officers who were planning to carry out a coup. Two of them…
As hearings begin on Capitol Hill over Google’s kowtowing to the repressive Chinese regime, China itself is cracking apart INTERNALLY over its Google censorship. Party officials have taken on other party officials and they are all slashing at each other at the top levels of Chinese government. Christian Science Monitor has the story here. Pamela at Atlas Shrugs is doing some terrific, tremendous blogging about this Google controversy. Read her latest in full here. Rebecca McKinnon at RConversation has news from Capitol Hill and further background here and here. Or go here and just keep scrolling.
Following the super-flawed municipal elections held last week, the Supreme Court in Nepal has decided that the Royal Commission for Corruption Control, setup by royal decree soon after King Gyanendra took power one year ago, is completely unconstitutional and all decisions made by it are annulled. This is a major blow to the King and a major step back onto the path of democracy and the rule of law. He justified the commission by stating that it would be used to weed out corruption in the government, but instead it was used as his personal eight-man search and destroy party…
The tiny island nation of Tonga, population 100,000, got it’s first commoner prime minister after the king’s son was removed from the position following months of public protest against his rather senile rule. Here’s the backstory. Tonga has moved closer to democracy with the king’s unpopular youngest son stepping down as prime minister in favour of an elected commoner – an historic first in the Pacific island monarchy. Without giving a reason, the Tongan government announced on Monday that after six years as prime minister, Prince Ulukalala Lavaka Ata resigned all his ministerial portfolios on Saturday. A statement said Crown…
Nepal is holding municipal elections today, the first vote for the people of the country in seven years. The King is heralding it as a step toward democracy in a country besieged by a Maoist insurgency. With any luck, the country will return to normal within good time and everyone will live happily ever after. Oh, sunny days! Or not. Unlike other posts about elections and the spread of democracy, this is anything but. It has been exactly a year and a week since the King took absolute power by disbanding the parliament. He is now attempting to legitimize his…
Thais have had it up to here with Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and 100,000 people are now in the streets demanding his resignation. The billionaire-army cop-turned prime minister has used his office to pocket billions for himself in yet another ‘Corporate State’ business deal while the rest of Thailand languishes in the aftermath of the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997 that continues to depress wages – despite some economic growth. Thaksin isn’t the worst leader I’ve ever seen, but he has intolerable autocratic tendencies in a country whose very name means ‘freedom’ and a truly atrocious record on freedom of…
It was 364 days ago that King Gyanendra suspended democracy by sacking parliament and began a new war against Nepal’s civil society in the face of a Maoist insurrection. Since then, thousands of people protesting against the government have been arrested, from major politicians and journalists to the everyday man and woman. Just today, on the eve of the anniversary of the king’s seizure of power, over 1000 people have been arrested for opposing him. Hundreds of opposition activists have been arrested across Nepal on the eve of the first anniversary of the royal coup, the opposition says. An opposition…
Glenn at Instapundit has an excellent roundup of this growing issue about Google’s problematic relations with Red China’s government and its implications for freedom of press. The link is here. Val at Babalu and Steve at Hog On Ice have additional thoughts – or well, deeds – here and here. UPDATE: This just ran across the stock ticker: Google (GOOG) lost 6.35 to 436.68 in high volume despite news it launched a search engine in China. The search engine censors topics that are sensitive to Beijing, creating some controversy. Google hit an intraday high of 454.23 before falling back. THE…
Following last week’s crackdown by royalist security forces preceding planned pro-democracy protests, in which hundreds of pro-democracy politicians and activists were detained and communications were cut across the whole country, the situation in Nepal has deteriorated even further. Protests have been ongoing for the past four days, with standoffs between the demonstrators and police resulting in tear gas being shot from one side and stones being thrown from the other. With the Maoists ending their ceasefire and stepping up attacks, Nepal is perhaps at one of its most unstable points in a really long time. KATHMANDU (Reuters) – Nepali riot…
It has been nearly a year since the King suspended democracy in the country and began his crackdown on the political opposition; which, at this point, is every political party in the country. Earlier this month, the King of Nepal reinstituted a ban on political rallies that had been lifted late last year. In response, pro-democracy forces in the country have prepared a massive rally to protest the renewed political repression. As if to prove them right, the King responded by cutting all communications in the country in an attempt to foil the organizers of the rally. Phone lines, cellulars,…
Ten thousand angry middle class Thais rallied to demand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s resignation. They are accusing him of corruption and abuse of power. They’ve had it up to here with Thaksin, a billionaire businessman and once-enormously popular prime minister who has amassed power in the wake of the 1997 Asia Crisis, which began in Thailand, and has since eroded civic freedoms. The Thais are rallying around around Songla Limthongkul, a former business partner and former political ally of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Songla is a media mogul who’s appalled at the his former partner’s business deals (a rumored $2…
These guys have the right idea. In a rare protest against an official media crackdown, about 100 journalists from one of China’s most aggressive daily newspapers have gone on strike after the paper’s editor and two of his deputies were fired, local journalists said Friday. The editor of The Beijing News, Yang Bin, and deputy editors, Sun Xuedong and Li Duoyu, were dismissed Wednesday as part of what media watchdog groups describe as a sweeping government campaign to tighten control over the media and the Internet. The striking journalists, about a third of the staff, stopped work on Thursday after…
Gateway Pundit has a roundup of the good news.
Jim Hoft has a couple of roundups, here, here, and here in chronological order. Pajamas Media also takes a look at what others blogs are saying.
Leaders of the ASEAN regional grouping, growing tired of the Burmese military junta’s unwillingness to fulfill its obligations, has called on the country to democratize and release dissident leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Kuala Lumpur, Dec. 9 (AP): Southeast Asian nations on Friday demanded that military-ruled Myanmar expedite democratic reforms and free Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, in the strongest display yet of their growing frustration with the junta. Myanmar has pledged to allow democracy under strong pressure from its neighbors as well as the U.S. and other Western powers, but has so far failed to deliver. Foreign Ministers…
Burmese officials loyal to the regime are all meeting (read: getting drunk) at a convention that is supposed to put the country on the path to democracy. At least, that’s what the government spokesman are saying. Mad about not being invited to the party are every concerned democratic country on earth, the overwhelmingly popular opposition, and anyone else who might have an inkling of desire to reform the country. I know I didn’t get my invitation! Myanmar’s ruling generals on Monday opened a round of talks on drafting a new Constitution and steering the isolated country toward what the junta…
Here’s the untold story of the tiny country of Tonga, with a population of 100,000 spread over 171 islands and a monarchy that refuses to reform itself. The past several months have been tense. Thousands of people are organizing and protesting for democracy. The government is coming under intense pressure, but the church is serving to prop up the regime. Oppositions MPs demanded the king begin reforming the government by Dec. 5, which would include popular election of all parliamentary deputies, choosing of the prime minister by the parliament, and the reduction of the king to a ceremonial role. When…
The big but unsurprising news out of China is that — golly gee! — the government tried to cover up the huge chemical spill in the Songhua River that has closed down water supplies for nearly four million people in the city of Harbin. The International Herald Tribune reports on the timeline of events and how the government was finally forced to act. Similarly, the Washington Post describes the political fallout caused by the coverup. Environmental destruction due to the fast pace of industrialization and lack of regulation has been a big issue on the minds of the Chinese people…
While much of South America continues to wrassle over whether free trade is of any benefit to them, Asian giant India – once an inward-looking, narrowly nationalistic state – has now called for a free trade pact for South Asia – or, SAFTA. What a democratic revolution, given what India was in, say, 1970! With perfect intellectual clarity, India’s prime minister has stated the facts on NAFTA, CAFTA and all the other recent trade agreements, citing a slew of data, from how third-country factories go up in free trade states, to statistics about the tripling of trade – and wholeheartedly…
Maybe this is why I’m so hesitant about Chinese aggression in the future: SHANGHAI: When it comes to their sex lives, Chinese are among those who “can’t get no satisfaction.” Chinese are among the groups that are the least happy with their sex lives, according to the 2005 Global Sex Survey results released yesterday by Durex condom company. Only 22 per cent of Chinese surveyed said they are satisfied with their sex life. On a global scale, 44 per cent of all adults claim to be happy with it. Look for China to, uh, dominate Taiwan at some point.
Luis Ramirez at Voice of America, the best correspondent in East Asia, as we and even Amnesty International have noted before, has come up with some kickass reporting on …. North Korea’s rich elite and the continuing famine in North Korea. It is fearless journalism, and like none other you have read. Even people who look down on VOA have admitted to being stunned by the first-rate quality of this reporting. The award-winning Voice of America bureau chief in Beijing went to Pyongyang and has since come out no-I-wasn’t-fooled journalism on this dark, closed, monstrous totalitarian dictatorship, the very worst…
ForeignPolicy.com has a good and relevant article up about China’s crackdown on civil society following the colored revolutioned in Eastern Europe and Central Asia over the past few years. Georgia and Ukraine were bad enough, but when Kyrgyzstan — also a part of China’s growing sphere of influence — also joined suit, the Chinese government has become wary of a repeat scenario either nationwide or in renegade provinces. The article gives some background, and then talks about how mediums of communication and NGOs have become caught in the crosshairs more than usual of late. The recent democratic revolutions in Georgia,…
Stefania in Sardinia reminds us to think of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi who is marking her tenth year of house arrest under the thugs who run Burma. Suu Kyi is the rightful leader of Burma. She also is a brave woman who has stood up to the gross tinpot military thugs in her struggle to bring democracy to her beautiful country. She is a revolutionary democrat who ranks with Lech Walesa and Vaclav Havel in the annals of revolution. But her struggle is long and hard and she is still under house arrest by these unsavory, illegitimate rulers who…